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General Motors’ recently announced the next-generation Chevrolet Volt would make its debut a little sooner than expected at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January. They didn’t reveal much about the car itself, but GM’s North America Vice President, Mark Reuss, recently commented on the car at a meeting for former Buick employees in Michigan.

The current Volt can achieve 98 MPGe and up to 37 miles per gallon under normal driving. It also has a 38-mile all-electric range. According to Reuss, “fuel economy and efficiency,” will grow in the 2016 model. This will be achieved through using a smaller 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine to charge to batteries rather than the 1.4-liter mill used in the current car and by making it lighter and more aerodynamic. GM has yet to say by how much range will be improved, however former CEO Dan Akerson previously said if the company can get electric range “up to 50, 60 miles or more,” than they will.

As we reported earlier, the new Volt may also have seating for five. Nothing has been confirmed, but the four-person seating in the current car could have turned some potential Volt customers away, so we could Chevy making seating for five a priority. There may also be a new 17.1-kWh lithium-ion battery, though it may be hard to accommodate both a larger battery with more range and seating for five. We’re expecting more information on the Volt to surface as its debut date nears.

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Volt absolutely needs 5 place seating. The thing that bugs me is that while the Volt is regularly hammered in the automotive press for only having 4 seats there seems to be no similar outrage about BMWi3’s lack of a 5th seat.

With the 2nd gen Volt, the battery pack might not be a T shape. Might be flat along the floor like the Model S with cylindrical cells rather than polymer cells, like the Model S? That would be ideal, lots of space for more battery capacity then! Seats 5, range extender. Hopefully the engine will be able to assist with acceleration when in Hold mode, such as the current Volts with the performance mod by Bad News Racing. But hopefully with the 2nd gen Volts the software will software it from the factory.

As a hobby I have driven new Acura, BMW, Infiniti, Mercedes, Saab, Volvo, Lincoln, VW, Audi, Porsche, Ford, Dodge, Cadillac, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Nissan, Buick, etc. Just drove 2015 Subaru Legacy 3.6R up mountain and back. But today I drove a 2014 Chevy Volt and it was a real hoot. Very high torque, fast, stable, agile, great steering & brakes, and comfortable. Now I like it more than all other cars I mentioned here. I really want to see and drive the new 2016 Volt early next year in 2015. It will be such a blast to drive and much more (hopefully) affordable. The Volt is the most praised, best liked and most dependable car that GM has ever made with NO recalls or safety issues. I really encourage readers to consider driving the new 2016 Volt when it becomes available early 2015. I want one of my own!! [email protected]

Hello everyone can someone tell me how volts while being such highly rAted cars depreciate tremendously very very quickly. In working the numbers it appears that the nada and Kelly blue book folks are figuring in the tax credit in their calculations and that is pretty crappy in my opinion. My 2013 was 38k and with only 12k on it was valued at 24k… I traded for a 2014 it was barely worth doing ……also You can get a volt at an auction with 10k miles on it for around 22-23k. So everyone seems to be figuring in the tax credit and their actions are really rendering the credit useless for all practical purposes. If I had it to do over I would buy one At auction then go buy the the best gm extended warranty when I got to around 36k. Anyone else been thinking about this issue????